French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety

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Water

Expert Committee

The Expert Committee (CES) on "Water" assesses the health risks for the general population and workers associated with the presence of micro-organisms or chemical contaminants (trace elements, micropollutants, cyanobacteria and cyanotoxins, free-living amoebae, Legionella, schistosomes, etc.) in water (drinking water, water used for leisure purposes, wastewater, groundwater, surface water, etc.).

It also assesses the safety of materials and objects used in permanent facilities for the production, treatment and distribution of drinking water (organic materials, metals, cement-based materials, etc.), as well as the safety and efficacy of products and processes for treating drinking water, water used for leisure purposes (swimming pools, artificial bathing pools, etc.), sea water (purification treatment, clean water, shellfish farming, etc.), etc.

In addition, it is responsible for assessing the health impact of practices emerging in the context of the deployment of sustainable development and water scarcity policies (work has been performed on the reuse of treated wastewater, greywater and rainwater; managed aquifer recharge, desalination; recycling of washing effluents in purification plants), assessing the human health risks downstream of sewage plant outlets, and assessing the protection of water resources used for the production of drinking water (assessment and methodological consideration of developments related to the EU's Water Framework Directive).

It provides scientific and technical support for the drafting of national and European regulatory documents, technical guides, protocols and reference standards related to the aforementioned themes.